Peter Leonard - Voices of the Dead

“The fuck you doin’ here, Harry?”

“Good to see you‚ too. How you feeling?”

“Ever been shot?”

“No,” Harry said. “You see who did it?”

“Shape outside the car is all. Then metal was flying at us through the glass. I’m moving, ducking, tryin’ not to get hit. Five shots. Little sounds like pufft, pufft . Man had his gun silenced. Hit me here.” Pointed to his left forearm. “Here.” Pointing to the upper left side of his chest near the collarbone, a bandage bulging under the hospital gown.

“Rochelle came out to smoke one, got smoked.”

“She your girlfriend?”

“Not any more.” He reached for a plastic cup on the table next to him, picked it up and sucked water through the straw.

“Remember anything about the shooter?”

Cordell closed his eyes for a few seconds and opened them looking at Harry. “Wore a hat. Just saw it like a blip, flash in my head.”

“What kind of hat?”

“Little motherfucker with a brim. Had a feather on the side?”

“Sounds Tyrolean.”

“Can see him now,” Cordell said. “Was a white dude.”

Harry showed him the mug shot of Hess.

“Might be,” Cordell said. “The Nazi, huh?”

Harry nodded. “He stopped by your mother’s, told her he was me.”

“Let me ax you something. You the star witness. Why’s he coming after me?” Cordell said.

“He’s tying up loose ends. Taking out anyone knows something about him.”

“Loose ends? Man, I don’t know nothin’. Don’t know shit.”

Harry was wondering if Hess had come to Detroit first. Take care of them and go to Palm Beach? He had to call Joyce again and warn her. He saw Cordell’s right foot come out from under the blanket. His ankle had a leg-iron on it, chained to the side rail. “What’s that? They think you’re going to run out, skip your medication?”

“Warrant for my arrest. Check it out. Charging me with felony firearm. Guess you can relate, huh? And I was just about to leave town.”

“Maybe I can help with your legal problems.”

“How you gonna do that? You a lawyer?”

“I know one and he’s good.”

“Tell him to work fast. Few more days, I heard a nurse sayin’, they gonna move me to the jail infirmary. Wayne County. Trust me, you don’t want to do time in there.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Harry said.

Harry went back to the yard. Galina had called. She was cooking a brisket, and insisted on dropping some off for his dinner.

“Don’t worry, Harry. If door is locked, I know where to find spare key.”

He was going to call Galina and tell her not to bother, but he didn’t want to talk to her, get in a conversation. He was trying to avoid her.

Hess pushed the button and heard the bell ring inside, waited, knocked on the door. The time was 4:57 p.m.

He had parked the Chevrolet Malibu down the street. The sky was overcast and getting dark as he walked along the driveway to the rear of the house, glancing at the neighbor’s property. He didn’t see anyone in the yard. Harry’s garage was built on the north end of the property, a fence around the perimeter, empty slate patio directly behind the house. French doors that opened onto the patio were locked. He kicked in a glass pane near the handle, reached his hand through, unlocked the door and went inside.

Hess stood in the dining room and listened. He heard a dog barking somewhere outside. He moved through the house, studying the furnishings in the salon, sleek leather chairs and sofa, chrome and glass end tables, antique rugs, Ushak and Tabriz, Mondrian reproductions framed in black metal, Bang & Olufsen sound system, antique deco clock on the fireplace mantel. White lacquered bookshelves built along the wall that met the fireplace, filled with encyclopedias, hardcover books. He moved to the Steinway grand piano that was positioned in front of the windows with a view of the street. A woman on the sidewalk passed by the house, walking a dog, a breed of poodle. A heavy truck rumbled by shaking the foundation.

He went back through the dining room into the kitchen. There was a table in front of the windows that looked out on the back yard, an island counter with three high-back chairs behind it on one side. Across the room was a small television on another counter built into the wall. Next to the TV was a phone and answering machine.

Hess pushed the message button and listened, skipping past sales solicitations until he heard a woman’s voice. “Harry, I did as you suggested. I’m still on the island but in a safe place. When are you coming to Florida?” Very soon, Hess said to himself.

He walked into the foyer, stairs to the left, front-door alcove to the right. Behind him was a small wood-paneled room with a fireplace. He walked up the stairs to the second floor, photographs in frames on the wall, Hess stopping, studying them, the daughter, he guessed, in a series of pictures from a baby to a young woman. He entered the room at the top of the stairs. Still enough light to see this was where the daughter had slept. Thinking about her, the irony of it, the automobile accident bringing Hess and Harry Levin back together.

He heard something and moved to the window. He looked down and saw a car, lights on, in the driveway, stopping next to the house. A woman got out carrying something, approached the side door and rang the bell.

Hess ran down the stairs to the foyer. He heard the bell ring a second time and then the sound of a key in the lock. He was in the hallway moving toward the kitchen when the door opened and closed.

“Harry, it’s me, are you here?” The accent sounded Russian. “I bring dinner.”

He was in the foyer, looking through a doorway down a short hall into the kitchen. He saw her walk past him, carrying a tray covered with aluminum foil. She placed the tray on the island counter in the center of the room, removed her coat and draped it on the back of a chair. She moved to the left and disappeared from view. He heard a cupboard door open and close, and heard the clinking of glass bottles. She reappeared with a bottle in one hand and a cocktail glass in the other. She placed them on the island counter next to the tray.

He heard the refrigerator door open and the rattle of ice. She came back to the counter and dropped a handful of ice cubes into the cocktail glass. She unscrewed the cap on the bottle and poured what appeared to be vodka over the ice.

Hess had admired Harry Levin’s taste in automobiles, his furnishings and now his taste in women. In another situation he would have liked to join her for an evening cocktail, but whisky, not vodka. What was he going to do? She appeared to be settling in, expecting Harry Levin’s imminent arrival.

The foyer was dark, he moved, bumped the open door with his hip and it hit the wall with a dull thud. The woman turned and glanced through the doorway in his direction.

“Harry, is that you?”

She placed her drink on the counter and walked toward the foyer as Hess retreated into the salon.

“Is someone there?”

She came into the room. It was dark but not completely. Sitting in a leather chair, he reached over and turned on a lamp that was on the table next to him.

“I must have fallen asleep,” Hess said, using his Southern accent. “I thought I heard someone.”

“You scare the hell out of me,” the woman said. “Who are you?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I’m Ray, friend of Harry’s, staying here for a few days. I’m in the scrap business. Yard down in Ohio.”

“Harry did not mention you were here.”

“He didn’t mention you either.”

“Come have a drink with me.”

“I don’t mind if I do,” Hess said, hands on the armrests, pushing himself out of the chair.